Caffe Ladro Good Food Awards Winner 2019

Seattle Coffee Roaster Receives National Recognition

January 14, 2019—Caffe Ladro received the Good Food Award for its Ethiopia Limu Organic coffee at the 2019 Good Food Award ceremony in San Francisco, CA last Friday, evening, January 11th. Ryan Rabaca, Ladro’s Head Roaster, accepted the award, which was bestowed on just 15 coffees submitted by roasters from across the USA. Over 2,000 specialty food crafters in 16 categories vie for the Good Food Award winner seal annually. Caffe Ladro achieved finalist status in 2018, and ascended to winner this year.

Rabaca and CEO, Jack Kelly, put a significant focus on selecting the Ethiopia Limu coffee and developing the roast profile. Rabaca recounted, “We knew this coffee had the potential to be incredibly special; the challenge was roasting it in such a way that developed the exact flavors and characteristics we were looking for. We kept trying different roast curves. . . refining and making small changes each roast. On the last day we could submit this coffee, we nailed it!” For Kelly, each roast is an opportunity to provide customers with amazing coffee. He emphasized, “The Good Food Awards and their high standards give us a platform to show our customers how committed we are to uncompromising quality.”

Rabaca, explained, “This Good Food Award puts us in a small group of roasters delivering the best organic and sustainably grown coffees from the 2018 season. I’m honored we have this coffee selected as a winner.” Kelly shared that “being part of the craft food movement is so exciting–the passion and commitment the craft movement puts forward is the foundation of excellence.”

Ethiopia Limu Organic

Both Rabaca and Kelly underscored how important Shimekt Daba, the producer of the Ethiopia Limu Organic coffee and his staff are to the quality coffee they roast and provide to coffee drinkers. Rabaca, explains, “This Good Food Award puts us in a small group of roasters delivering the best organic and sustainably grown coffees from the 2018 season. I’m honored we have this coffee selected as a winner.” CEO, Jack Kelly, shares that “being part of the craft food movement is so exciting–the passion and commitment the craft movement puts forward is the foundation of excellence.”

This coffee is a light roast with taste notes of red grape, dried fig, and orange blossom. The entire Ladro staff looks forward to sharing this coffee with customers, friends and family. It is available at all Caffe Ladro locations and online at CaffeLadro.com.

The following local restaurant news piece highlights this coffee, and Seattle Coffee Scene piece highlight this coffee, too.

Meet all the Good Food Awards Winners of 2019.

Read the full press release below:

9^th Good Food Awards Recognizes 220 Food & Drink Crafters from 34 States & Washington, D.C.

Alice Waters, Carlo Petrini, Dr. Jessica Harris & 1,000 guests gathered to celebrate

San Francisco, CA (January 11, 2019) – The nation’s leading food crafters, grocers, chefs, journalists and activists gathered tonight at a gala Awards Ceremony in San Francisco to honor the 220 Good Food Awards winners of 2019. An annual recognition program now in its ninth year, the Good Food Awards celebrates American food and drink crafters who demonstrate a commitment to creating tasty, authentic and responsible products and in doing so, bettering our nation’s food system. Each of the 2019 winners demonstrates both a mastery of their craft and a commitment to maintaining exceptionally high social and environmental standards in their work.

This year, the Good Food Awards distinguished makes in sixteen categories (beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, cider, coffee, confections, elixirs, fish, honey, oils, pantry, pickles, preserves, snacks, spirits). The 2019 winners come from 34 states and Washington, D.C., rising to the top amongst 2,035 entries in a blind tasting with 262 judges held in September. The highest scoring entries were underwent a rigorous vetting process to verify they were not only exceptionally tasty, but met the sustainability and social responsibility criteria required to become a Good Food Award winner. Of the 220 winners selected from 324 finalists, 55% are first time winners. The greatest number of winners come from the Golden State, followed by Oregon (25), Washington (19), Massachusetts (12) and a three way tie between Virginia, New York and Colorado (11 each). Following closely were Vermont and Missouri (10 each).

The gala Award Ceremony began with a glass of sparkling cider from winner Liberty Ciderworks and ended in an affirmation of why, at this particular moment in time, the work of the 220 winners – each one a talented artisan, local business owner and sustainability advocate – is so important:

 “Through your very existence – by growing and thriving and continuing on through seasons of boom and bust – you show everyone that America’s appetite for truly good food is here to stay. At a time when the message of ‘us versus them’ grows louder, you quietly yet firmly send a different message about how this country works and what we value. Everyday – through the choice to protect our land and waters, to pay fairly and transparently, to build community wellness alongside your businesses – you say ‘all of us or none of us.”

The full list of 2019 Good Food Award Winners can be found here.

 Organizers & Supporters:

The Good Food Awards are organized by the Good Food Foundation 501 (c) 3. The Presenting Sponsor is the Good Food Merchants Collaborative, comprised of 19 of the country’s top independently-owned retailers from Ann Arbor to Oakland to Sioux Falls, all of whom are committed to supporting America’s great food crafters. Joining them is a vibrant group of key supporters, including Premiere Sponsors Williams Sonoma, Bi-Rite Market and Vermont Cheese Council. Lead Sponsors Dominic Phillips Event Marketing, Veritable Vegetable, Rhode Island Department of Agriculture, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, Ten Speed Press, Airbnb, Bon Appetit Management Company, Gamut, and Impact HUB Bay Area also make the weekend possible. Special thanks to the Good Food Merchants Collaborative Members:

Bi-Rite Market

Canyon Market

Cowgirl Creamery

Cured

Di Bruno Bros.

Each Peach Market

Foragers Market

Glen’s Garden Market

Good Earth Natural Foods

Green Zebra Grocery

Healdsburg SHED

Look’s Market

Market Hall Foods

Market of Choice

Palace Market

TASTE

Woodstock Farmers’ Market

World Foods Portland

Zingerman’s Family of Businesses

Media Contact Katherine Harris | 415.447.3268 | katherine@goodfoodfdn.org

ABOUT THE GOOD FOOD AWARDS

The Good Food Awards celebrate the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsible. Now in its eighth year, awards will be given to winners in 16 categories: beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, cider, coffee, confections, elixirs, fish, honey, oils, pantry, pickles, preserves, snacks and spirits. The Good Food Awards Seal, found on winning products, assures consumers they have found something exceptionally delicious that also supports sustainability and social good.

ABOUT THE GOOD FOOD FOUNDATION

The Good Food Awards is organized by the Good Food Foundation 501 (c) 3, formerly known as Seedling Projects, in collaboration with a broad community of food crafters, grocers, chefs, food writers, activists and passionate food-lovers. The Good Food Foundation is also the organizing force behind the Good Food Guild, Good Food Mercantile and Good Food Merchants Collaborative.